First Day of... Spring?

With today being the official first day of spring I decided to go out and do some yard clean up, rake the garden and fold in some spent grains I poured in there after a recent batch of beer, and just do some general yard work. Yeah.. it would have been great, had the weather decided to cooperate at least a little. I managed to run a rake through my strawberry patch a few times before it started sleeting on me. I was disgusted but decided to power through it because after a Winter of being cooped up in the house nothing feels better then finally getting outside and fixing the yard up. Winter does things to a yard, terrible things, and I've had to just stare at the havoc from my windows, a slave to my home and this weather. I powered through. I managed to get the strawberry bed raked, the rhubarb bed cleaned up, the flower gardens raked free of my unsightly neighbors yard debris that seems to be attracted to my lawn like a magnetic north and south.. It felt pretty good, cold, wet, sore, but good.

The soil in the garden beds looked and felt fantastic, dark black richness that raked effortlessly. The tulips, hyacinth, and iris are all about 4" tall already and we just had snow on the ground yesterday! I even managed to rake up some earthworms under a few leaf piles. Spring is certainly trying to overpower Winter around here, and I for one can't wait until it does.

2011 Gardening Season is Underway!

This week has been a real roller coaster with the weather. Two brief flirts with 60 degrees followed by upper 30's, rain, sleet, snow, warm. This is what to expect in Michigan around this time of year, yet you hope this one will be different from last. You think, this may be the year you don't have to wait til May for last frost, or that you wont be shoveling 8" of snow in mid April in Winter's last hurrah. But alas you find yourself doing just that, just like last year and the year before, you need to break free of the Winter doldrum, you need to plan your garden and plant some seeds.

I get these 50 or 72 pod seed starter trays and fill them with a good organic seed starter soil. Next I find out which of the things I'm putting in the garden this year need to be started 10, 8, 6, and 4 weeks in advance of last frost and push a seed or 2 into a pod. I really saturate the pods, cover the tray, and put it in the basement under 2 100w compact fluorescent lamps.

Last week I planted all of my tomatos, eggplant, celery, and hot peppers, and so far everything has sprouted except for my "hottest peppers on the planet" naga morich which I suspect will need some more time since they are from saved seed.

My tomatoes this year will be green zebra and cherokee purple heirlooms from seeds of change, and two roma's from botanical interests. These are the two seed companies I've always used and trust them. You will never catch me planting anything from a Monsanto owned seed company, which unfortunately is most of them anymore. I've also planted celebration celery. thai dragon chilis, and rosa bianca eggplant from S.O.C.

So, I'm very pleased to have part of this years crop underway, and love watching them grow from these tiny little things into powerhouses of organic produce! I have a great feeling about this season.